The Equanimist

Consideration of Current Global Policy within a Context of Sustainability

2011-06-24T13:03:00.000-04:00

Note: I did this series of cartoons quite a while ago and did not intend to publish them as such. That said, within a context of current events, the brief outline presented here is good food for thought. So I've put words to them... Expect exploration of these issues in pieces to come. Many with whom I interact seem to think that a dollar is some kind of a static instrument. They seem to think

The problem with laissez-faire (the chief problem with modern interpretations of representative democracy)

2010-10-31T14:42:00.001-04:00

Compromise is the result of a fight between opposing forces. Imagine two boxes that contain agendas. They’re butted up one against the other. On either side of the boxes is a guy. The two guys push the boxes toward each other with all their might. If, on a level playing field, both guys are equally strong and equally good at pushing then when they push the boxes directly at one another

Housekeeping

2010-10-29T08:53:00.000-04:00

While I continue to work on a new post that will go up on this page, I've been posting at the Dog-Meat-Home Companion page... Ideally, the Equanimist is not just this page but consists of the Equanimist, Dog-Meat-Home Companion, News Blog and Not a Joiner--each of which has its own flavor. I just don't know how to bundle them all into a single front page more like a newspaper. So, for those of

Working Hypothesis (re So-Far Failed Attempt at Greater-US Market/Foreign Middle-Classification)

2010-09-24T20:40:00.023-04:00

When money represents discrete fractions of actualized human potential adjusted for an instantaneous estimation of future productivity increase, to account for net outflow of money as the US trade deficit ballooned in a continual expansion of the US-dollar denominated market, more US dollars were necessary to fuel the “greater-US” market without either disrupting the US socioeconomy or

Invest in US

2010-08-16T04:24:00.002-04:00

I Where do stewards who hoard currency (incentivization to put people to productive work) think that average people are going to get money? Where do average people get money? Can they print it? How does flow and use of money (economic engine) work? Can socioeconomy (presently) function without some kind of currency actively cycling through it? The single most pressing issue facing

A Short Note on the Primary Superiority of Fiat Currency-based Socioeconomics to Commodity-based Socioeconomics

2010-06-10T16:24:00.004-04:00

Work is not used to put people to money (so long as “excess” of any product can be created) but money is used to put people to work. Fiat currency is not a commodity but a tool. That it can be used as currency of actualized human potential is its primary virtue. Otherwise, we might as well use something like gold, which may tend to approximate (but is no) ideal fixed-quantity commodity. As has

Part III.C. Regarding US Unemployment

2009-09-19T19:23:00.033-04:00

1. ‘The proof is in the pudding’ Relatively-high, steady unemployment is not compatible with civil society when a relatively acquisitive, motivated people confront social programs that only reinforce hardship and success. Now, it appears that there are more US Americans who would work than there are US jobs to do. This is not the case. The US people need challenging, satisfying work now more

Update

2009-08-09T18:28:00.002-04:00

Dear Readers,I have found much to rewrite in "Part I." -- Little to change, but much to elaborate upon and, in the course of things, I have embarked upon a total rewrite of same. So, "Part III.C." &c. will have to wait a little while longer... I don't think anybody is in a rush -- we're still deflecting blame, calling names, rousing rabble &c. Solution can wait :) Which brings me to a point of

REPOST: Part I. "It's Just Business"

2009-07-18T16:08:00.007-04:00

While I continue to conceive this ongoing untitled series (among other things) I think this -- a week during which banks (e.g., Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase) reported extraordinary profits while ordinary citizens, who footed the bill, are jobless and homeless -- this is a perfect time to repost Part I. "It's Just Business".How does a businessperson* (often a salesperson in this capacity) "

Part III.B. Fleshing out the Case for Determined Will; (also, "You" are not the "you" you think you are.)

2009-06-17T15:22:00.006-04:00

B. Fleshing out the Case for Determined Will (also, "You" are not the "you" you think you are.) The universe came into being. Very probably (it seems) there was a “big bang” at which time individuality first became possible. Expansion. Expansion. Expansion. Accretion. Collisions. &c. Many of us have seen “The Universe”. Some of us have even had a little science. Billions of years of evolution.

Part III.A. Mutual Exclusivity

2009-06-05T11:05:00.011-04:00

A. Mutual ExclusivityLike “everything”, belief in freewill – the singular ability (generally attributed to “higher” animals and their familiars) to think, decide and act irrespective some inexorable extra-personal causative agent or agents (i.e., responsibly) – belief in freewill is over-determined.It just seems right; does it not? I think, decide, act and can “observe” myself as I do so.

Part II. Worth

2009-04-19T19:02:00.003-04:00

"You say it is the good cause that hallows even war. I say unto you: It is the good war that hallows any cause." – NietzscheHere, I would like (desperately) to write something else; that a man or woman is worth some moral equivalent in dollars; or, at least, that human dignity is valuable and productivity still more so. Peace costs. Loyalty costs. High living standards cost.But this is not the

REWRITE: This is a private drive. No trespassing. (Update 3)

2009-04-06T23:37:00.017-04:00

Originally published here, at the Equanimist, 17 Sept 2008. Rewritten and reposted in response to continued deterioration of the US labor market (another 600+k jobs lost in March) and other recent news, including (but in no way limited to) this debacle covered by the Christian Science Monitor related to 'contaminated' Chinese drywall.Developed economies will be made solvent or reposition on the

Riding the rally

2009-03-23T23:14:00.011-04:00

While others seem very suddenly and insanely positive (see, for example, Jim Cramer's change of heart), I remain unconvinced.Economic fundamentals are largely unchanged. Transparency is still a pipe dream. The "solution" to mark-to-market accounting may be a good broom (with which to sweep the mess under a rug). Credit can get as cheap as dirt, but, borrowers remain broke and unworthy.Some of the

Prelude to Part II in mixed metaphor, "On Natural Rights" (Update 1)

2009-03-21T12:53:00.004-04:00

The natural world!O, to be better by fine margins!How will we know who is best?We will fight. Winner, take all.Drop what you are doing for the competition. The first place finisher will get a gold medal ($953/oz.); second place, a silver medal ($13.73/oz.); third place, bronze (something greater than zero/oz.). Never mind how impossibly small the difference between first and third might

Part I. "It's Just Business" (Update 1)

2009-03-02T16:00:00.011-05:00

How does a businessperson* (often a salesperson in this capacity) "make" money? In the simplest sense, s/he buys or finances or otherwise brings goods and services (that somebody/-ies designed/engineered/whathaveyou and produced or otherwise will either provide or facilitate – sometimes his or her own goods or services) to market where s/he peddles them to the consumer. To the extent that s/he

Foray into the post-787-Billion-Dollar-Stimulus-Plan World

2009-02-14T15:01:00.005-05:00

In 2007 "people" (increasingly) stopped making mortgage payments, and, by the end of the year, the economy was entering recession. So, before the US had lost 3.6 million jobs, there wasn't enough money cycling through the economy to drive it. Thus, it stands to reason, the US need not only replace 3.6 million jobs lost but do more (the status quo wasn't working). Beyond the obvious (i.e., the US

Dropping Money from Helicopters and Other Hard Choices (Update 1)

2008-12-17T22:25:00.015-05:00

i. Hardly conservative, over-consolidation of wealth at the expense of the US middle class is a reckless game. High productivity and rapidly cycling currency fuel high living standards and rapid growth. Therefore, no long-term solution to the financial crisis is likely to exist apart from (1) upward wage pressure on the bottom 95% of US Americans (2) re-regulation to include incentivization of

Response to Global Trends 2025, Part II: Clean Is Good (Formerly "Green Is Good")

2008-12-17T19:49:00.004-05:00

Global climate change hasn’t gone on holiday because the US is staring down the barrel of a financial gun. There remains no doubt that the world is warming, and, there is vanishingly little room to speculate that human activity is not to blame (at least in some part). According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report: Global atmospheric

Extra! Extra! News Blog is up and running! Read all about it!

2008-12-06T23:53:00.004-05:00

You may have noticed a new link on the sidebar. News Blog at the Equanimist is up and running! First post, A Riot in Iceland, Those (Pro)Roguing Canadians, "Let them eat cake!" See what the hubub is all about.

Response to Global Trends 2025, Part I: Country at a Crossroads

2008-11-26T07:51:00.004-05:00

US technological and strategic advantages are not insuperable and, the US has lost luster (if not real ground). To retain (or regain) global standing, US “elites” must voluntarily or US stewards must demand that they take aggressive proactive roles developing innovations that will assure continued great power status or be willing to (1) leave successive generations a weaker and increasingly less

Are you civics literate?

2008-11-26T06:48:00.008-05:00

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute recently reported that most Americans don't know a whole lot about civics and economics. Elected officials know even less! According to ISI: More than 2,500 randomly selected Americans took ISI’s basic 33-question test on civic literacy and more than 1,700 people failed, with the average score 49 percent, or an “F.” Elected officials scored even lower than

Global Trends 2025 (Update 1)

2008-11-22T17:22:00.016-05:00

Another short newsy post. Global Trends 2025 is out. It's a real tour de force! Peruse it. And, in the coming days, be ready for posts on related topics.UpdateDear Readers,The Equanimist has recently run a couple of newsy posts. But, as you may know, the Equanimist isn't really a news blog. Since I might not update for a couple of days, I didn't want to leave a string of newsy posts on the front

The Myth of the Pay Incentive (a follow-up note on innovation)

2008-11-16T01:29:00.007-05:00

Previously, I wrote a little note (“A Note on Innovation”) in which I argue that US-style “free-”market capitalism is collaboration inhospitable; that so-called “performance-based” pay is profit-driven; and, as such, innovation-irrespective “performance-based” pay packages favor cheap, outmoded and proprietary goods and services (what some might call “crap”).To fill the gaps left in this short

Profligate Banks Use "Emergency" Loans to Dodge Accountability

2008-11-11T07:53:00.010-05:00

By August, 2007, it had become clear to some (namely, me, and I wrote about it here) that (among developing crises) US middle-class profit shares might be insufficient to continue to drive the US economy – that US middle-class profit shares were too small to continue to effect general prosperity.The so-called “credit crisis” unfolded throughout 2008. Rates of default rose. Home prices plummeted.